Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy
Cognitive abilities play an important role for migratory birds that are briefly visiting a variety of unfamiliar stop-over habitats. Here, we compared cognitive abilities-linked behaviour (escape from an experimental cage) between two long-distant migrants differing in stop-over ecology, sedge warbl...
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doaj-acae7bf07aa8420d8a737f4a0c5b4a1b2021-03-01T00:00:48ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-02-011163963910.3390/ani11030639Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over StrategyDariusz Jakubas0Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas1Alexis Powers2Troy Frazier3Michael Bottomley4Michał Kraszpulski5Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, PolandDepartment of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, PolandDepartments of Biology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USAPsychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USAMathematics and Statistics, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USAPsychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USACognitive abilities play an important role for migratory birds that are briefly visiting a variety of unfamiliar stop-over habitats. Here, we compared cognitive abilities-linked behaviour (escape from an experimental cage) between two long-distant migrants differing in stop-over ecology, sedge warbler (<i>Acrocephalus schoenobaenus</i>; not territorial, searching for locally superabundant food) and reed warbler (<i>A. scirpaceus</i>; territorial, foraging on a common prey) during the autumn migration. After two minutes of acclimatization in the cage, we remotely opened the cage door and recorded the bird’s reaction. We measured latency that individuals needed to escape from a cage. Sedge warblers were 1.61 times more likely to escape from the cage than reed warblers. Sedge warblers generally escaped earlier after the door was opened and were 1.79 times more likely to escape at any given time than reed warblers. We interpret the prevalence of non-escaped individuals as a general feature of migratory birds. In contrast to resident species, they are more likely to enter an unfamiliar environment, but they are less explorative. We attributed inter-species differences in escape latency to species-specific autumn stop-over refuelling strategies in the context of specialist-generalist foraging. Our study provides ecological insight into the cognitive abilities-linked behaviour of wild animals.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/3/639cognitive abilitiesreed and sedge warblersmigratory birdsstop-over ecology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dariusz Jakubas Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Alexis Powers Troy Frazier Michael Bottomley Michał Kraszpulski |
spellingShingle |
Dariusz Jakubas Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Alexis Powers Troy Frazier Michael Bottomley Michał Kraszpulski Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy Animals cognitive abilities reed and sedge warblers migratory birds stop-over ecology |
author_facet |
Dariusz Jakubas Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas Alexis Powers Troy Frazier Michael Bottomley Michał Kraszpulski |
author_sort |
Dariusz Jakubas |
title |
Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy |
title_short |
Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy |
title_full |
Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy |
title_fullStr |
Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy |
title_full_unstemmed |
Differences in a Cage Escape Behaviour between Two Migrating Warblers of Different Stop-Over Strategy |
title_sort |
differences in a cage escape behaviour between two migrating warblers of different stop-over strategy |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Animals |
issn |
2076-2615 |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
Cognitive abilities play an important role for migratory birds that are briefly visiting a variety of unfamiliar stop-over habitats. Here, we compared cognitive abilities-linked behaviour (escape from an experimental cage) between two long-distant migrants differing in stop-over ecology, sedge warbler (<i>Acrocephalus schoenobaenus</i>; not territorial, searching for locally superabundant food) and reed warbler (<i>A. scirpaceus</i>; territorial, foraging on a common prey) during the autumn migration. After two minutes of acclimatization in the cage, we remotely opened the cage door and recorded the bird’s reaction. We measured latency that individuals needed to escape from a cage. Sedge warblers were 1.61 times more likely to escape from the cage than reed warblers. Sedge warblers generally escaped earlier after the door was opened and were 1.79 times more likely to escape at any given time than reed warblers. We interpret the prevalence of non-escaped individuals as a general feature of migratory birds. In contrast to resident species, they are more likely to enter an unfamiliar environment, but they are less explorative. We attributed inter-species differences in escape latency to species-specific autumn stop-over refuelling strategies in the context of specialist-generalist foraging. Our study provides ecological insight into the cognitive abilities-linked behaviour of wild animals. |
topic |
cognitive abilities reed and sedge warblers migratory birds stop-over ecology |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/3/639 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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